


Wait, How Do You Move?

by Yami_Kada7



Series: Link Down [6]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Day 6, Ema is a good coach, Gaming Champs, Takeru might normally be bad at tech, VRAINS Week 2019, VRLink14, but not today!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-20
Updated: 2019-07-20
Packaged: 2020-07-09 18:55:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19892695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yami_Kada7/pseuds/Yami_Kada7
Summary: With most of the group’s computer skills, it comes as no surprise that they excel at video games. Which left everyone gaping in shock as Takeru trounced them all at Mario Kart.





	Wait, How Do You Move?

**Author's Note:**

> That feeling when you spend all day hauling around fallen trees and realize that you forgot to write the prompt, it's not a feeling that I would recommend. Remember the prompts. 
> 
> This is partially based on my own experiences playing Mario Kart with my siblings, only Takeru actually wins.

Takeru was extremely confused when, upon arriving late to Kusanagi-sans housewarming party for his new apartment, he was greeted by a lot of angry yelling.

“You did not just!”

“I did, get used to it Mr. Long Legs~!”

“Gah, those stupid boulders!”

Takeru stood in the doorway, clutching onto the dish his grandma had shoved in his hands while he took in the scene before him. Everyone was in the living room, gathered around the tv with little white remotes in their hands. Music blared out, some peppy beat that only seemed to incite the others further.

“... Hi?” Takeru ventured.

Yusaku spared him a glance, then he went back to focusing on the screen. No one else looked away.

“I’ll just… put this in the kitchen…” He backed out of the room, heading to where the rest of the food was sitting, unopened and untouched, on the kitchen counters. 

From behind him, Bessho-san let out a cheer. “I leave you all to the scraps!” After a moment she strode into the kitchen, tossing her hair over her shoulder. Spotting him standing in the middle of the kitchen like a statue, she grinned, hands on her hips. “I,” she slapped one hand down on the countertop, “absolutely owned that.”

He glanced between her and the doorway, not sure how to interpret any of what was happening. “Good job…?” He tried, then cleared his throat. “So what are you all playing in there, anyway? It sounded pretty intense when I walked in…”

“Oh?” Bessho-san looked up at him from where she was surveying the food. “It’s Mario Kart, after all, this is a party, and no party is complete without a good game to bring out the worst in everyone for a little bit, ya know?” She peered into the dish that Takeru had brought. “What is this, by the way?”

“My grandma and I made barbeque chicken kebabs, she wanted to experiment today.” He focused on her earlier statement. “What’s Mario Kart?”

Bessho-san stopped and stared at him, and he stared back, slowly growing more confused as the silence between them stretched. “You’ve never heard of Mario Kart.” She stated. He nodded. “We’re changing that.” The next thing he knew she had him by the wrist and was pulling him back to the other room. 

“He guys! For the next round, I’m going to be showing Takeru how to play, then he’ll take over for me in the race after that! Any objections?” She looked around the room at the other occupants.

“Um, Bessho-san, this really isn’t a good idea. I might break Kusanagi-san’s game.” Takeru was flashing back to every other time he had tried to play a game at the arcade, or use a cell phone without supervision, or attempted to take notes on a tablet like Yusaku. None of which had ended well.

“Nonsense! I’ll show you the ropes, and then you can try it out yourself. And if the first race doesn’t work out, you can try again!” She shoved him into a seated position on the ground, then slid down next to him. 

“Wario’s Gold Mine is next, if you want to participate get ready.” Kusanagi-san called out, clicking buttons on his controller.

Bessho-san picked hers up. “Ready!” She turned to Takeru. “Just watch me, okay? I’ll explain the different buttons as I go.”

Resigning himself to his fate, Takeru sat up and watched the others go through the process of choosing a character and vehicle, then they were on the start line. Bessho-san pointed out the different controls as the countdown started, and his head swam with all the information. During the race itself, he kept glancing from her hands to the screen, taking in when and why she hit different buttons. 

It looked hard, but at least the tilting the controller to move and drifting made sense to him. All too soon, Kusanagi-san was crossing the finish line first and Takeru was being handed a controller, the others in the room all shifting into battle stances on the couch. A hand fell on his shoulder, and Takeru locked eyes with Bessho-san, who gave him a small smile. “You’ll do fine. And if anything goes wrong, I’ve got your back!” She squeezed his shoulder, then lifted her hand off to turn his face towards the screen. “Now choose your character, and race!”

He fumbled with the controller, hitting a few buttons in his haste and when he looked up, he had already chosen a character. A girl in a pink dress stared out of the screen, looking ineffective as she giggled. Well, it couldn’t make him do any worse. He looked at who everyone else had chosen, Kusanagi-san with a tall purple man, Aoi-san with a tiny dinosaur-lizard, and Yusaku with a… mushroom? Bessho-san nudged him out of his thoughts, and he realized he still had to choose a vehicle.

He settled on a bike, since Bessho-san had told him that they were easier to maneuver. The screen changed, breaking into four parts, and Bessho-san pointed out his. She poked at his hands, getting his fingers onto the buttons he needed as the buzzer counted down. 

Then all of a sudden, the cars were moving and he was going forward, everyone else shooting past him. His bike sped down the track, not falling too far behind the other racers but not catching up either. He hit the walls the first couple times he tried to turn, but eventually he figured out drifting and the next few turns went by without him stopping. 

In the middle of a town setting, Bessho-san pointed at part of the screen. “Head for that gap.” He glanced between her and the screen, because the track was going  _ right _ and there was a  _ wall _ there, but aimed for the little gap. He was surprised when he came out of the staircase and had jumped up five numbers, and tried to focus on keeping his position. 

The next lap he climbed a few more spaces, passing all of the NPCs and landing in the middle of the war the other three were fighting for first. It was like they were trying to kill his character! Making her smash into walls and almost nose dive off of ledges. They were all crazy.

He passed the starting line again, and it was time for the final lap. The others all got more desperate, getting as many of the question mark boxes as they could and using them on each other with glee. So very crazy. 

Aoi-san sent a green turtle shell hurtling his way, but he dodged at the last moment and the shell hit Kusanagi-san instead. The man groaned. “I’ll get you for that one, Takeru.”

“I didn’t even throw it! That was Aoi-san!” Takeru complained.

“Don’t rat me out!” Aoi-san punctuated her statement by coming up to his side and slamming into his character. He righted himself before his bike crashed into the wall, but he could feel his frustration building. Why was everyone so angry at him? He was just trying to play the game. 

His fingers jammed on the buttons harder than was probably necessary, and his focus honed in on his corner of the screen. His bike sped down the track, keeping time with Aoi-san and Yusaku, who were almost directly in front of him. Suddenly though, there was what looked like a bolt of lightning that hit the track ahead. Yusaku’s car was sent up into the air, and Takeru was past it before the damage was visible. 

“Yusaku, are you okay?!” He glanced at the little map and blinked at how far behind Yusaku already was from the rest of the lead group.

“Shut up.” Yusaku was definitely not in the mood for talking, okay.

Then it was just Takeru and Aoi-san in the final stretches. They kept switching places, changing between first and second with each tilt of their remotes. Takeru felt a burst of confidence, though. He could do this. He hadn’t failed so far, he and pink girl could win if it continued like this. Then the last group of boxes came up. 

Aoi-san sped up as soon as she hit hers, coming in front of him, and then throwing a red shell straight back. Even though he knew it would be useless, red shells always honed in, Takeru still tried to dodge it. He blinked as it sailed right past him, bouncing around unseen track. 

“Go go go!” Bessho-san refocused him, and Takeru tuned in just in time to drift around one of the last corners. Aoi-san was just ahead of him, but he caught the wind just right and came up beside her. 

One glance out of the corner of his eye and a deep breath, and Takeru went onto the offensive for the first time. His bike slammed into Aoi-san’s, and she hit the wall, falling out of sight. “Oh! Great job, Takeru!” His screen suddenly flashed and he jolted, having forgotten about the finish line. 

He blinked, coming out of the focus that the race had put him under. He won! He won a game! He won a  _ video _ game! Now that was a strange thought. 

He turned to Bessho-san with a grin. “Thanks for letting me play, Bessho-san! That was more fun than I thought it would be.” He tried to hand the controller back to her, but she shook her head, holding up her hands.

“You keep playing, okay? You’re on a roll now, you can’t stop!” She gestured at the screen. “Go have fun!”

Takeru nodded at her, then turned back to where the character selection screen was up. His own cursor hovered over the same girl as before, and he made to select another when he was stopped by a hand over his controller. “Nope! You’re keeping her.”

He turned back to Bessho-san, brow furrowing. “But why? I want to try other people.”

She shook her head, adamant. “Because…” She paused, then the rest came out a bit rushed. “Because it’s bad luck! You just won with Peach, if you abandon her now, your next race might go really badly.” She nodded to her own words, staring at some point past his shoulder. 

He blinked. He didn’t know that about video games. But it made sense, if he thought of the characters like little spirits. You didn’t anger spirits that helped you out, that was just bad news all around. “Alright, Bessho-san.” He moved on to choosing a vehicle, and in the same mindset he got a bike again, although he couldn’t tell if it was the same one or not. 

A hand patted him on the head as Bessho-san stood up. “Good choice. I’m going to treat myself to some food, for being such a great coach!” She headed out of the room as the countdown started up, and Takeru focused back on the game. He hoped that this round went alright.

* * *

The round went more than alright, and so did all the ones that followed. Somehow, Takeru kept getting first, in every single round they played. It had been three hours since he started, but Bessho-san kept finding reasons for him to keep playing, even as the others all switched out and got food at one point or another.

Now his stomach was grumbling loudly each time he moved, and his patience was fading. “Alright.” He announced as the trophy was presented to him again.” I need to eat, so you guys can race without me for a while.”

“What? Noooo!” Bessho-san looked scandalized. “I have a strategy now! I’ll beat you for sure!”

“Let him eat.” Yusaku accepted the controller from him as he stood. “That way the rest of us can stand a chance.”

Takeru took his chance to escape to the relative quiet of the kitchen, and filled a plate. Playing games was fun, but there was a point where he wanted to just sit back and watch for a while. Moving back into the room, he sat on an unoccupied chair, his body thanking him after sitting on the ground for so long, and leaned back to watch the chaos unfold. 

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you thought! Comments, critiques, reactions, all is welcome!
> 
> This is very late in the day, but hey at least I got it done. I thought I might not be able to write it until tomorrow.  
> Which reminds me tomorrow's piece will probably be out later, I have more trees to haul.
> 
> Bonus points to whoever can guess the different tracks used!
> 
> If anyone's interested, I'm over on Tumblr under @yami-kada
> 
> In the spirit of last year's Vrainsweek, this piece is not beta'd!


End file.
